In general, an automotive transmission is configured to change a gear ratio to uniformly maintain rotation of an engine based on a speed of a vehicle, and a driver manipulates a shift lever of the transmission to change the gear ratio of the transmission. For types gear shift modes of the transmission, there are a manual gear shift mode in which the driver may change gear shift stages, and an automatic gear shift mode in which the gear shift stage is automatically changed based on with the speed of the vehicle when the driver selects a driving mode (D).
In addition, in a sport mode type transmission in which a manual gear shift operation and an automatic gear shift operation may be performed in a single transmission is used, and the sport mode type transmission may perform the automatic gear shift operation and the manual gear shift operation when the driver increases or decreases a gear shift level, or perform a gear shift operation by providing a transmission, which may perform an automatic gear shift operation, at a side of a transmission that performs a manual gear shift operation.
The automotive transmission has a shift lock function called a function of locking a gear shift which has been developed to prevent a sudden unintended acceleration. A primary shift lock function prevents the shift lever from being moved to another position when the driver does not engage a brake pedal when the gear shift stage of the shift lever is a park “P”-stage or a neutral “N”-stage. In addition, a secondary shift lock function \ prevents the shift lever from being moved to a reverse “R”-stage when the vehicle travels forward at a predetermined speed or greater. To prevent an erroneous manipulation by the driver, a full shift lock function, which performs the shift lock function for all of the gear shift stages, may be implemented.
Therefore, the driver needs to release the shift lock function to select the gear shift stage using the shift lever, and in general, a release button for releasing the shift lock function is installed on a knob at one end of the shift lever. When the driver moves the knob, the shift lever is moved in one direction to select the gear shift stage, and the driver moves the knob while pressing the release button installed on the knob. In particular, for the driver to release the shift lock function when the driver presses the release button, a structure, which transmits an electrical signal based on whether the release button is manipulated, is required.
Therefore, to transmit an electrical signal based on whether the release button is manipulated, connectors, which are formed on the knob and a rod of the shift lever, respectively, are connected to each other when the knob and the rod of the shift lever are connected, to allow the electrical signal to be transmitted. However, with such a structure, the overall working time increases as assembly processes such as a process of mechanically coupling the knob and the rod, and a process of connecting the connectors for electrical connection are added.
Further, a risk increases that a printed circuit board may be damaged due to the occurrence of static electricity during a process of connecting the connectors to electrically connect the knob and the rod to each other, and particularly, the connectors may be assembled erroneously, and damaged due to the erroneous assembly.